Infrastructure investments must be matched with growth planning to ensure that the approximately four million more people expected to settle in Ontario over the next 25 years will have places to live, work and learn, and have convenient access to health care facilities, public transit, and green spaces that contribute to a clean and healthy environment.

The government passed legislation, the Places to Grow Act, 2005, that provides a better way of planning for growth across the province. Growth plans will help municipalities curb urban sprawl, strengthen communities and protect the natural environment. They will enable us to get maximum benefit from the infrastructure we build and renew.

After extensive consultations with stakeholders and communities across the province, the first growth plan, the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, where most of the expected growth over the next 25 years will occur, was released in June 2006.